Hekab Be Library Update, November 2018

More and more children are joining our afternoon classes at Hekab Be, with 38 girls and 19 boys, plus some parents, walking across from the Pueblo to be a part of the afternoon activities organized by Kaori, Lucy, and our dedicated young volunteers from Tulum and G.V.I.

Making Flags for the Akumal Art Festival!

As part of our outreach into the community, Kaori has been working with Jennifer and Marti from the Akumal Art Festival to organize flag painting sessions. All the children from Hekab Be painted flags, as did all the children from the Akumal public schools, and Akumal’s Otoch Paal Montessori school. Over a thousand flags have been painted in preparation for November 9th through 11th, when they will decorate the streets of Akumal during the festival.

October started out with a trip to learn how to bake at Akumal’s favorite place for sweet treats – Turtle Bay Bakery and Café. Owner Jennifer Smith shared some of her trade secrets with the children, who worked together to make fresh mango cookies. Thanks Jen, the cookies were delicious!

New Socks for Everyone!

We get many wonderful donations from visitors who stop by Hekab Be, and we are always very grateful for everything you so generously gift to the children. This month we were surprised by a donation of over 30 pairs of cute socks! While we live in a tropical climate it can get chilly in the winter, and most houses have bare concrete floors that are not well sealed against cold north winds. So a pair of cozy socks for each child was a welcome and fun gift. If you would like to make a difference in the lives of these children, you can see our wish list on the website, or contact Kaori directly through our Facebook page.

The Holiday Season is Here!

As a community of many cultures, we hold celebrations for Halloween, Día de los Muertos and the local Maya Hanal Pixan here in Akumal. So as you can guess, the end of October and beginning of November is party season! The locals are celebrating not only the festivals to honor the dead, but also the end of the slow season. We’re also celebrating the return of many familiar faces in the ex-pat community as the part-time Akumalians head back south for the winter.

We will be trick or treating in costume on the 31st, and then celebrating Hanal Pixan on Nov 1st with an altar, traditional pibes (a Maya chicken and corn masa dish steamed in banana leaves), pan de los Muertos, and of course, hot chocolate. Look for photos on Facebook!

Don’t forget to drop off donations of lightly used clothes, household items, and good condition toys for our fundraising sale in the middle of November.

We’re gearing up to have the best Holiday party ever here at Hekab Be. The more children, the more fun! Santa Claus has promised to visit us during the party as always, but this year we are going to be giving slightly different gifts to previous years. Many of the families whose children attend Hekab Be are very poor; they have shared with us that they would appreciate gifts that are practical as well as fun.

More practical, less plastic!

So this year we will be giving each child a set of new clothes, plus some small, fun, stocking stuffer style toys. We think this is a good middle ground where they will still have the thrill of new toys but also receive a gift that will be appreciated and used for much longer than something mass-produced in plastic.

We have 38 girls ages 3 to 12, with most aged 5 to 9. Clothes for girls would be shirts, skirts, t-shirts, and sundresses such as this on Amazon.com.mx

We have 19 boys aged 1 to 12, with a pretty even distribution across the ages. Boys would love shorts and t-shirt sets such as this set on Amazon.com.mx

If you would like to buy clothes online via the Amazon.com.mx site and have them shipped to us here in Akumal, please contact Betsy for more information and a shipping address. Please don’t ship to the library – it is not secure! We suggest a price range of between $200 – $400 Mexican pesos (approximately $10 to $20 USD) per outfit.

The small toys should cost around $5 each, definitely no more than $10. The girls like unicorns, princesses, dolls, kitchen toys and animals such as horses, dogs and cats. The boys like dinosaurs, sharks and lions, Legos, cars, trucks and airplanes, and balls.